


like this, forever

by tristesses



Category: Star Wars: Thrawn Series - Timothy Zahn (2017)
Genre: M/M, Post-Canon, Reunions, Xeno
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-13
Updated: 2019-06-13
Packaged: 2020-05-07 08:05:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19205296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tristesses/pseuds/tristesses
Summary: Thrawn had come back to the Ascendancy, and Eli had to do more waiting. But what was a few more days when contrasted with years?





	like this, forever

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Aurae](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aurae/gifts).



> This is going to get super jossed in a month when _Treason_ comes out and I don't care! Hope you enjoy it, Thymesis!

Hidden deep within the heart of the mountain lay a hot spring that ran underground, surfacing in the occasional cavern and ducking back under the rock, the entrance to the cave system nearly buried behind a glacier, the water white with sediment and warm to the touch. Hot, by Chiss standards; to Eli, it was pleasant, human body temperature. It was here he'd come to wait. 

Thrawn had come back to the Ascendancy, but now Eli had to do even more waiting. But what was a few more days when contrasted with years?

They hadn't had time to say anything—no time to snatch a kiss, obviously, but not even a whispered hello or a touch of fingers—before Thrawn was hauled off for a full two-day debriefing in front of the Defense Hierarchy by the Chiss commander who'd escorted his shuttle in. Eli had only caught a glimpse of his face, those burning red eyes, before he'd gone.

Thrawn had looked a little worse for wear, his face lined, his expression not the familiar neutral cast or even grave, but stern, hard. His communications with the Ascendancy—with Eli—had cut off suddenly some years ago; nearly everyone except Eli had thought him dead. Eli—Eli had held out hope.

 _Ridiculous_ , Thrass had said, _pinning your dreams on my brother's wiles_ , but Eli had gotten to know him too well. Thrass was hoping too.

And it looked like they were right, because here he was. Thrawn. Alive.

Eli looked around the cavern, breathing hard from the exertion of climbing through the steep and narrow passages. It wasn't a massive cave, not like some of the other, more popular spots to visit; Eli could stand in it, but Thrawn's head would brush the ceiling in places. It was triangular, the place where Eli had entered its narrowest part, the rest of the cavern expanding into a wider area, the hot spring, milky white, carving its steady path along the port side of the cave.

And everything glittered.

The cave was a pocket of beauty in a crystalline lattice, the rough surfaces shining with the reflected light of Eli's glow rod. Eli marveled over them for the millionth time, admiring their relentlessly mathematical structure, their adherence to the laws of geometry. He held the glow rod higher and looked at what made him choose this cave in particular for their reunion:

Art.

A story, to be exact, intaglio depictions of the religions of one of the earliest Chiss cultures—the C'Teihn, who had worshipped the twin suns of Csilla and called fire their children—incised into the walls. It should probably have been in a museum, but no one else had found it yet. 

Eli had been saving it for Thrawn.

He'd left cryptic instructions in Basic for Thrawn, trusting him to remember the code they'd used back when Eli was his aide—how long ago was that now? Six Standard years, he figured offhand, and he wasn't usually wrong when it came to numbers. Thrawn should be joining him soon.

Hopefully.

Eli wouldn't really know what to do with himself if he was wrong.

It was warm in the cave, courtesy of the spring. Eli stripped off his outer layers and rolled them into a pad, putting it on a relatively flat outcropping and sitting on it. His stomach grumbled, reminding him that he'd burned more than a few calories over the past few hours, and he reached into his pack to grab a nutrient cube. Chiss cuisine wasn't fancy, but he'd gotten used to it.

Thrawn was taking his time coming here, that was for sure. He'd have been out of the debriefing for nearly a full day now, more than enough time to rest, speak to Thrass, and come find Eli. 

A quiet, paranoid thought in Eli's head said, _What if he doesn't want to find you?_

Eli shook his head and muttered, "Stupid." 

He had learned poise and pride while working as a liaison with the Defense Fleet, not to mention a little bit more control over his temper, but apparently when it came to Thrawn, there were still those little insecurities—ones he hadn't had to deal with in years. In theory, they were still in love, words they had exchanged haltingly just days before Eli had left for the Ascendancy. In practice…who could say? Eli was. Thrawn…Thrawn had been through who knew what, with who knew whom.

No. He had to have more faith than that.

Eli stood, shaking his head in irritation, and began to strip off his clothes methodically. He had been planning to wait until Thrawn got here for this, but he didn't know when—or if—that would be, so he might as well bathe now.

He sank into the water with a sigh; the salts in the water dried out his skin, less hardy than a Chiss', but it eased muscle aches. His hair pooled around him in a dark circle. Long hair was a sign of high status among the Chiss—which Eli, coming from the Imperial Navy with its rigid dress code, had found peculiar at first—and he had worked hard to earn the right to wear it this long, nearly down to his waist, pulled back in a practical braid most of the time. It must have been unpleasant for Thrawn to shear it off, that first time, he thought idly, and ducked his head underwater for a moment.

When he raised it, Thrawn was there.

For a moment, they just stared at each other, Eli drinking in the sight. Thrawn had been given a CEDF uniform, apparently restored to his original rank of commander—Eli had a brief moment of disorientation when he realized that as a captain, he technically outranked his former commanding officer according to the Defense Fleet hierarchy—and the severe black set off his skin, which had been deepened to cerulean by sun. Eli had had six years to get used to Chiss features; Thrawn's familiar face, the proud nose, the jutting cheekbones, even sharper with his gauntness, still made his heart stutter.

Thrawn swallowed, and said, "Eli."

Eli exploded out of the water ungracefully, splashing everywhere, and grabbed Thrawn in an embrace, heedless of the water soaking through Thrawn's brand-new uniform. He pressed his face against Thrawn's shoulder and took deep breaths of his familiar scent. Thrawn's arms came around him, his fingers digging almost painfully into Eli's back as his chin brushed Eli's head, and Eli relished the sensation.

Stupid, Eli had called himself, and he was. Stupid for thinking this wasn't real, for thinking Thrawn might have strayed. Thrawn wouldn't do that any more than Eli would.

Eli tilted his head up and said, "We have a lot to talk about—"

Thrawn took him by the chin in a firm grip and kissed him deeply. Eli melted.

But not so much that he couldn't reach up and knot his fingers in Thrawn's short-cropped hair, tugging lightly. _I want you_ , the gesture said, and other things too.

There were some things they couldn't say out loud. They just weren't that kind of people. But they could show each other, and Eli planned on showing Thrawn, in depth.

Carefully, he pulled back the flap covering the zipper of Thrawn's uniform top and took hold of the tab, placing one hand on Thrawn's chest as he pulled. Thrawn's jacket fell open to reveal the black undershirt, and he let it fall off his shoulders and crumple to the ground.

Thrawn was gazing at Eli as if he couldn't stop, unblinking, his glowing eyes flicking over Eli's naked body. Something besides lust was going on behind those eyes, as always. Eli tried to read what it was, but it had been too long.

"What is it?" he asked, sliding his hands up Thrawn's undershirt.

"Your stance," Thrawn said after a moment. "Your voice. The certainty of your movements. Life in the Ascendancy has suited you, Eli."

There was a hint of melancholy to his voice. Eli paused, his hands pressed flat against Thrawn's hard-muscled chest, but Thrawn didn't continue.

He would, in time—or Eli would pry later, whichever came first. For now, Eli concentrated on making that stern look drop off his face.

Or he would have, if Thrawn didn't seem to have a vested interest in making Eli fall apart first.

He cupped Eli's head in his hands and applied his mouth to the point of Eli's jaw, then to that delicate spot on his neck behind his ear that make him gasp out loud. Thrawn licked there, then blew on it lightly, warm air that made goosebumps shiver on Eli's arms. His cock was stirring against Thrawn's thighs, and he could feel the answering squirm of Thrawn's genitals as well. 

_B'usvi_ was the scientific term for them, which Thrawn had taught him, but Eli had learned the slang term _ba_ in his years here—meaning _two_. It didn't take a genius to understand where that came from.

Eli hooked his fingers in Thrawn's pants and whispered, "Let's get these off you."

He didn't have to ask twice; Thrawn stripped with alacrity. Then they both were naked.

Eli had thought there would be awkwardness. There wasn't. Thrawn put his hands on Eli's shoulders and pushed gently, guiding him to his knees, until he was eye level with Thrawn's _ba_ ; not really the end goal, Eli knew, but Eli took advantage of it to take a quick lick of the hemipenes, sliding his tongue across the dripping inner membranes and making Thrawn jump.

He hissed and yanked Eli's hair; Eli choked out a breathless laugh and went flat on his back when Thrawn pushed him down.

"Like this," Thrawn said, straddling him so his _ba_ were on either side of Eli's cock, enveloping it. Almost a question. Not quite.

"Yeah," Eli said, and groaned as the _ba_ began to twist around Eli's hard cock. "Yeah, like—like that."

Like a pair of tongues licking him, the tips swirled around the head and rubbed against the spot right at the frenulum that made Eli's legs twitch with pleasure, sticky and delicious; the rest of Thrawn's _ba_ encircled his cock and began to squeeze in pulses. He'd never asked what it felt like for Thrawn, although he resolved to do just that after—after they talked about everything. If he remembered.

But from the noises Thrawn was making, little bitten-off groans and alien hisses, he guessed it felt pretty good.

Thrawn's hands were on his chest, and his hands were on Thrawn's thighs, gripping, exploring, stroking. Time became fluid; Eli, usually so perceptive, couldn't say if they'd been there for thirty minutes or hours. But eventually, tension drew his muscles tight and his jaw clenched and pleasure exploded down his spine, and he spent himself all down his stomach and Thrawn's. 

Thrawn followed him, slumping boneless over Eli when he had finished. Eli wrapped his arms around Thrawn and held him.

"I have something to show you," he said eventually, and Thrawn raised his head.

"Oh?"

Eli nudged him to rise, and Thrawn did, offering Eli his hand. Eli took it, and kept hold of it while he guided Thrawn to the carvings on the wall.

"C'Teihn-era," Thrawn said softly, and reached out as if to touch it, but pausing before he did, hand lingering mid-air. His eyes shone in the light as he examined it. Eli watched him just as closely. The lines of stress had melted away from his face, and he looked more like the old Thrawn, the one who would seclude himself for hours in his office with a sampling of art and then emerge with the knowledge of how to defeat an insurrection, instead of that stern man he'd been upon his return. It gave Eli hope.

"I thought you'd like it," Eli said.

"Yes," Thrawn said, then turned away from the carvings to look at Eli. "You know me well, Eli."

"I know." Eli held his gaze for a long moment, and felt something unspoken pass between them. "The spring is nice, if you'd like to try it."

Immersed in the white water, Thrawn looked like a fey spirit from Lysatra, a creature out of myth. He half-closed his eyes and gazed at Eli.

"Now," he said, "tell me about what has happened in the Ascendancy these past six years."

"Should I start with Thrass becoming Syndic or the assassination attempt on Ar'alani?" Eli asked, and laughed when Thrawn raised his eyebrows.

Then he began to speak.

Thrawn listened.

And Eli was, for the first time in six years, completely content.


End file.
